Where I Need to Be
by Tofuu
Summary: Roxas wasn't born for brutal New England winters. He hated the cold, and hated the snow. But he was here, because Axel was here. One-shot. Fluff-piece.


**Where I Need to Be  
><strong>

Summary: Roxas wasn't born for brutal New England winters. He hated the cold, and hated the snow. But he was here, because Axel was here. One-shot. Fluff-piece.

A/N: I wrote this story because I had to shovel this morning and hated it with every morsel and fiber of my being. Snow in October...are ya freaking kidding me? New Englanders, you know what I'm talking about, right?

...

Roxas hated the cold. He hated New England winters, hated the snow, and most of all, hated _shoveling_snow. He had lived in Southern California his entire life, skin kissed bronze by sun, sand and salt. And he probably would've lived out his days there, if it hadn't been for Axel. Axel, who was a native New Yorker. Axel, who he had met and started dating in college.

Axel had come home from work one day, weary but trembling with some sort of nervous energy.

"Rox...they're promoting me to Account Executive." The redhead had whispered into Roxas's hair, that smelled like fruity shampoo, as he crushed the short blonde against his body, relishing in how warm, fuzzy and soft his boyfriend was.

Roxas didn't exactly know what an account executive was, but blue eyes had widened at the news and small lips curled into a wide grin all the same. "Axel that's...that's great! Congrats!"

And that's when Axel pried himself slowly away from Roxas and met his eyes. "They want me to relocate to New York, though..." Roxas stared at Axel dumbly as the words registered in his mind. "I didn't accept yet." Axel quickly added. "I...I told them I needed to talk it over with you first..." He bit down on his lower lip anxiously.

Roxas could tell how much Axel wanted this. How hard he'd worked for this. How long he'd waited for this. "Take it." Roxas had said simply, a smile splitting across his face. "You deserve it, Axel. How could I live with myself if I denied you this?"

"But Rox, what about _you_? What about _your_ambitions? This isn't just about me." Axel had asked with a frown.

"Hey, it's New York. City of dreams, right? There'll be plenty of opportunities for me." Roxas had said with an easy shrug, and Axel pulled him into a second hug.

"God, Roxas, you're _amazing_. You don't know what this _means_ to me. What _you_mean to me. I'll be making more money. And...and I thought maybe...maybe we could take out a mortgage on a home."

Roxas didn't care what Axel had to say, or what perks would come with the change. He loved Axel, and he'd follow him to the ends of the Earth.

They'd bought a small house in northern New Jersey, only a 20-minute commute from New York, because Axel said that it was cheaper _not_to live in the city. Plus, he said he wanted his future kids to have a green yard to run across and not have to worry about them getting nearly run over 20 times a day by reckless city drivers and bicyclists. Roxas had blushed to think that Axel was already thinking that far into the future, when he, himself, hadn't even thought about marriage yet.

Things weren't bad in New Jersey. Roxas hadn't found a steady job yet, but he worked a string of one-time gigs as a freelance copywriter. He befriended a guy by the name of Demyx from one of his temporary jobs, and the guy was sorry that they didn't have anything more permanent for Roxas, but would let him know as soon as anything opened up. Axel introduced Roxas to a gay coworker who lived nearby by the name of Riku, and they started going out on weekends with Riku and his boyfriend, Sora.

Roxas still wasn't sure what an account executive was, but he knew Axel was making more money. Despite the knowledge, Roxas still clipped coupons from newspapers in his spare time, and Axel wisely saved up and invested most of his paycheck, though he couldn't resist taking out his favorite blonde to eat at nice places from time to time and spoiled him with little gifts here and there.

Roxas missed California, but things weren't so bad with Axel here beside him.

But then winter reared her bitchface, and Roxas grew to loathe the world with all the vengeance of an emo teen. His teeth chattered, ears and nose red from the biting cold, as he savagely stabbed his shovel into the snow, feeling the aching muscles in his arms, back and abdomen whine and protest. He didn't mind mowing the lawn during the summer, or raking up bags of colorful leaves in the fall. Physical labor was one thing, but physical labor in the bitter cold was another ordeal completely. He was not born for this. Not born to be subjected to the harsh whipping of winter air against delicate skin that was now dry, and soft lips that were now chapped. Not born to conceal every inch of that deliciously smooth and tan skin, made for Axel to ogle, in layers of clothing that barely kept him warm.

Roxas's first winter was an icy hell, a lesson in painful things such as black ice and frostbite.

Axel seemed to be used to it all. He wore a winter coat, a pair of gloves and snow boots. He looked nothing like the ridiculous blowfish, made of wool and fleece, that Roxas endearingly resembled when he stepped out into the cold.

Complain as Roxas did, Axel always dragged Roxas out of their warm bed to shovel freshly fallen snow with him, because "It builds character!" or "With the two of us, we'll be able to finish twice as fast!" or "If we wait any longer, the snow's just going to be harder to shovel." or some kind of bullshit logic that Roxas didn't want to hear.

The only nice thing about winter, _maybe_, were the massages that Axel would offer to give to his brutalized blonde boyfriend after each shoveling session. And also, the hot chocolate Axel brewed for him. _Maybe_.

This particular week, reports were flying in about a North-Eastern storm that would rip its way through the area overnight, and drop about a foot of snow in the process.

"_Fuck_!" Roxas shouted at The Weather Channel, tossing the remote. He was _done_. So done with snow, and so done with _shoveling_the damn snow.

Axel arched a thin red eyebrow at the petulant blonde from the other side of the couch, as he typed away on his laptop.

"What's wrong?"

"..._Snow_!" Roxas managed to stammer, after flailing around for a bit. "Fucking _snow_!" If Roxas had bothered to be more honest with himself, it wasn't just the snow that was bothering him. He had been stressed over a dry spell in work lately, and as much as Axel assured the blonde to take his time, and that he had everything financially covered, Roxas still clung on to things such as pride and dignity. He was _not_ going to end up a housewife, _goddammit_.

"It's just a bit of snow. You'll live." Axel said good-humoredly without glancing up from the laptop screen. Roxas glared at Axel.

"I _hate_ snow." He gritted. "I _hate_this godforsaken place."

"Aww, c'mon Rox," Axel set his laptop aside as he scooted closer to Roxas. "It's not _that_bad, is it?" The blonde ducked Axel's attempts to hug him.

"It fucking _sucks_." Roxas spat vehemently. "Why'd we even _come_ here in the first place? Why'd we have to move to the fucking...fucking _armpit state of the union_?"

Roxas regretted those words as soon as they had left his lips, because he knew damn well why they had moved there. He _knew_but was throwing a tantrum anyway like some hopeless little brat. Axel had blinked for a frozen moment before laughing it off lightly, though green eyes glittering with hurt betrayed his feelings.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Rox..." Axel muttered, before settling back on his side of the couch, shifting his attention back to the laptop, and remained tight-lipped after that.

Roxas turned off the TV and ambled into the bedroom, feeling sick to the depths of his stomach with guilt. He laid awake in bed for the longest time, waiting for Axel to join, but either the redhead never did, or Roxas fell asleep before it happened.

The next morning Roxas woke up, the spot next to him empty and cold, as he shivered and drew the blankets up and over his freezing nose. He was wondering vaguely what time it was, and where Axel was, when he heard a faint crunching sound.

_Crunch, crunch._

Was it...? He shot out of bed and peeked out the window to see a vibrant head of red hair that stood out against the world covered in white. Their driveway was nearly cleared, but Roxas hurriedly pulled on some thicker clothes, socks, jacket, hat, gloves, boots, and he was out the door.

Axel looked confused to see Roxas standing there, bundled up with shovel in hand.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Roxas asked, his tone accusing. That's when Axel looked even more confused.

"I thought you _hated_shoveling."

"I _do_, but that doesn't mean I want you shoveling all this crap by yourself!" The blonde protested, a bit angriliy.

"Look, I just...I just thought you'd be happier if you didn't have to do this. It's the least I could do for dragging you across the country to this dump." Axel said with a shrug.

With a scowl, Roxas turned and shoved his shovel into the snow that was left on the driveway. "What makes me _happy_, Axel, is _you_. I don't care if I have to shovel _shit_ for the rest of my goddamn _life_. If this is where _you_ need to be, then this is where _I_need to be."

_Stab. Lift. Toss._

Roxas could swear that he saw Axel smile a bit, out of the corner of his eyes, and the redhead resigned himself to helping Roxas shovel the patch of snow left.

"I didn't mean what I said last night." Roxas said quietly, eyes glued to the snow.

_Stab. Lift. Toss. Repeat._

"I know."

_Stab. Lift. Toss. Repeat._The cold was permeating through Roxas's boots. His fingers already felt frozen stiff.

"You know I always do like, 80% of the work anyway, right?" Axel suddenly spoke. "You're slow as hell." He teased.

"Shut up, _jerk_. I'm doing my best." Roxas muttered indignantly while Axel only laughed, ruffled his blonde spikes and made him hot chocolate with extra marshmallows afterwards.

Roxas hated the cold, hated winters, hated snow and hated shoveling, but he loved Axel more.

…

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Leave some love. ;)


End file.
